The Lightuino is an Arduino-compatible circuit board that lets you easily drive lots of LEDs.

You've got 70 independent constant-current sink channels to play with, and can stack 3-4 LEDs in each channel. You get 16 500mA source channels. When used in combination with the 70 sink channels you can drive 1120 LEDs in grids like 70x16 or 35x32.

It also contains an IR universal remote receiver and an ambient light sensor to help control your projects. Source code libraries to drive all the hardware is included so you just program it using simple APIs. This board contains a ATMEGA 328p processor (same as the Duemlanove) and looks just like a Duemlanove to the Arduino IDE. The Lightuino powers the LEDs using a constant-current driver chip, so you get a consistent light intensity and you don't have to deal with those pesky resistors.

The Lightuino is Arduino-shield compatible and comes with "super-stackable" headers (pins on the bottom and extra-height female headers on top). For example, you can put this on top of an Arduino and then put a shield on top of it! You can even stack multiple Lightuinos to light more LEDs. Just clip any pins you don't want to be shared.

ApplicationsAnything that uses 0-20mA LEDs such as model train lighting, LED coffee tables, LED art, museum installations and indicator lighting (lighting locations on a map for example). The Lightuino can also be used to drive servos, DC motors, relays, etc, with minimal additional components (resistors, diodes and transistors)

Arduino-CompatibleThe LED state, set LED brightness individually, do intensity fading, and access the IR receiver and ambient light sensors.

Stackable HardwareYou can stack multiple Lightuinos to control more than 70 LEDs, or stack Arduinos or Arduino shields on top or below.

Almost 100% Shield Compatible_The Arduino's 3.3v output pin is not provided_ (but you should be able to use a 3.3v shield by providing your own 3.3v supply). Use a USB connection or a USB to serial cable (FTDI cable) to talk to the board (FTDI thru hole footprint is not populated). Accepts USB power (with 500mA resettable fuse) or 7.5-16v DC via 2.1mm center positive jack (same size as the Arduino/Boarduino, etc).

Common ConnectorsAll LED sink control and power lines are exposed via 2 EIDE ribbon cable 40-pin connectors (AKA hard drive cables). This makes it very easy to connect up to LEDs. The source driver uses a 16 pin ribbon cable connector. This is a pretty common part and is also available cheaply through us.

LED Sink Drivers2 M5451 constant current chips Capable of sinking 70 outputs at 15-20 mA, at 12 volts. This is *not an LED matrix driver* LEDs that are "on" do *not* blink giving you a much brighter light than a matrix driver. Independent control of all 70 outputs from CPU (on or off). Brightness of all LEDs can also be controlled, and apparent brightness of individual LEDs can be controlled via open-source software PWM library. Any 4 CPU IO pins can be selected to drive the LEDs via soldered jumper wires. This lets you stack Lightuinos or use Arduino-shields that do not let you choose their IO pins. Selectable LED voltage via a trim pot/variable resistor.

LED Source Driver16 500mA outputs are available to drive current into LEDs or other devices. Note however that the board's maximum current is less than 8A, so these cannot all be on at the same time at full power. In conjunction with the LED sink driver, you can make an LED matrix that is 70x16 (or 35x32) LEDs in size (1120 LEDS total).

Variable Voltage RegulatorAn onboard 1.5Amp variable voltage regulator can be used to select the perfect voltage for your LEDs.

Ambient Light SensorAn ambient light sensor is onboard so you can automatically turn on your project in the evening!

IR ReceiverThis 38khz infrared receiver will work with most TV remotes and all "universal" remotes. Use a remote control to control your project!!

SoftwareSoftware to drive all this hardware is available as an Arduino library, so you only need to write code specific to what you want to do.

Your board comes with a default sketch. If you attach some LEDs from +5v to the LED sink pins, you should see them blink!